Oath Sign
by AtlantianLights
Summary: Gilgamesh summons Arturia as her Master for the Fifth Fuyuki City Holy Grail War.


The red glow of the summoning circle faded to black in the closed building, and darkness permeated the musky shed. His breaths remained baited in spite of his intentions. He couldn't see a thing at the moment, and he listened so carefully for a noise, any kind of noise that would signal something. The darkness remained silent except for the shifting of fabric on the dusty, grimy floor. Unable to bear any more waiting and having no patience to begin with, the man lit his candle with the thing Kirei called a "match."

It was dim, hardly enough to see anything by, and yet it cast a glow across the room and allowed him to see the pile of fabric that would, hopefully, be his king of knights. He lit yet more candles, the flickering gradually lighting the room up as he kept his back turned, waiting for the gasp of horror that was sure to come. Perhaps she would even try to kill him. He subconsciously glanced down at the command spells on his hand. Would he have to use one?

And yet, as he lit the last pillar of wax, there was still nothing. Unable to contain himself, he turned to glance back at her. She was easily visible now on the candle-lit floor, curled gracefully inside the summoning circle and… Was she really asleep? He raised a golden brow, incredulous. How could she possibly be sleeping? Then panic struck him, an emotion that did not suit the king of heroes. Had the summoning gone wrong? He had recited the words that Kirei had taught him. He had practiced for years now, ten to be exact, and there was no one better prepared than he.

He could not contain his impatience, and left his candles to kneel inside the circle, gazing down at the face that his form cast shadows upon. Her face was gentle, more relaxed than he had ever seen her. Her wispy blond hairs were a frightful mess, just as he had last seen her on that night ten years ago. It was pure instinct for him to reach out and touch her cheek with his hand. After all, what were women for? Touching, feeling… women were beings of softness and tenderness. Or rather, they were supposed to be. This was how they fit into Gilgamesh's neatly organized and simplified world.

She woke with a start as his fingertips brushed along her cheekbones. He had time to register how her cheekbones rose higher than the girls of Babylon before she was inhaling, sputtering with wild green eyes that recognized him on contact. He leaned back, easily dodging the hand that seemed to be attracted to his cheek.

"You-!" Her voice was hoarse but strong, surprise evident. She seemed ready to draw her legendary sword at any moment. He had to stall this.

"I see that a decade of sleep has done nothing to quell the king of knights' hate for me."

She stopped then, and he watched as her eyes took in their closeness. They raked over him, how he knelt so close and how his hair hung loose. How his armor was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by an elegant tuxedo. He was not dressed for battle.

"There is no hate in me for you, king of heroes."

She finally answered him with that, looking away with those eyes like emeralds. His confident, smug smirk replaced the unsure look on his features. He waited, withdrawing his hand so that he could rock back on his heels, balancing as he watched her take in her surroundings.

"This place… is Irisviell's old shed. How did you find this place? Why are you here?"

Gilgamesh would not normally deign to answer the questions of anyone, not even his woman's, but this time was an exception. Being summoned as a heroic spirit was always confusing.

"Kirei found it. Need I explain? This was your base-of-operations last time, right? I summoned you here."

Arturia's eyes grew wide and when she answered him, her tone was one of panic. "Wh-What?! How is that even possible?!"

Gilgamesh's answering smirk was quite victorious, one of pure egocentricity. Nothing had changed about him in the past decade. "I don't have to explain myself to you, my king of knights. It matters not how or why. All that does matter is that you are here now, and you are mine."

Her own answering look was one of disbelief and defiance. "I won't." she said simply and quietly.

His nostrils flared. "Oh, but you will. You see, my queen, t have had ten years to think this through. Ten years while you slept away." His red eyes seemed to harden now, glinting dangerously in the candle light. "This… arrangement will be quite fruitful for the both of us. You see… You get the grail, and I…. I get you."

Silence reigned over the dank shed then, green eyes staring incredulously and calculatingly up at stern, determined, red ones. Finally the king of knights made movement, pushing herself to her feet within the faintly glowing circle, brushing her hands off on her already-dusty skirts.

"I do not know whether to believe you or not, Archer." Her eyes said she wanted to. Gilgamesh was not one to disillusion himself. He would not make something up to suit his own tastes, and he knew that she wanted the Grail more than anything else in this world. He had worked this out and was now using it to his advantage. She would know that her best chances of getting the artifact would be himself and Kirei, no matter how much she may hate the two of them.

Still, the silence threatened to ruin his patience. Why must she make him wait so? She should just fall into the arms of her king and embrace him as her master. The thought of it brought him happiness, and so he amused himself as such as the silence dragged on.

"King of knights. You have been summoned to this, the fifth holy grail war, to serve as the servant to Gilgamesh, king of heroes and future conqueror of this world. Serve me, my queen, and I will promise you the Grail."

"You need not repeat yourself!" She spat this almost viciously, conflict raging in her eyes. "I am no man's queen. I am Arturia Pendragon, King of Knights and rightful ruler of Great Britain. I will not be treated as a mere _girl_. I am a man."

Gilgamesh spent about a second in silence, patience snapped, and then he was moving, grabbing the defiant woman by the chin and forcing her to look up at him. "Arturia Pendragon, you may call yourself king of knights all you may like, but you belong to me and me alone now. There is but one person in this world worthy of gazing upon your beauty, and that is me. And I am Gilgamesh, son of Lugalbanda and Rimat-Ninsun, ruler of Uruk and the only one who is entitled to the treasure of this world. You are one such treasure, and that makes you _mine. _Submit to me, so that I may behold your true glory. Together, Arturia, we could claim the Grail. You, for your wish, and me, for my treasury. Rule by my side. Submit to me. I _demand_ it of thee."

She was shocked into silence by his proximity, his fierce and possessive words. This amount of emotion seemed to be unusual for the man, this Archer that she had come to know through battle over the course of a few weeks. Her pride was injured, wanting to lash out at him for stealing the Grail away last time and now demanding for her to work for _him_. It wasn't right! She had worked so hard, taken so many wounds and seen so much happen. She had lost Irisviell and suffered because of this damn war, and now he was asking her to do it again! She had suffered and suffered and suffered time and time again and all for nothing in the end because of him and Kiritsugu and Kirei. It was almost enough to drive someone mad and it would have if not for the sleep. The sleep that she had been plunged into as the waters of the grail had poured in on top of her and this man who was standing in front of her right now, with those stupidly stubborn eyes and his stupid tuxedo that looked so much like the one that Irisviell had given her.

And then she was avoiding his stupid red gaze because _goddammit_, why did it have to be him? Was he the only one worthy of her begrudging trust left out of the pool of people she had grown to know in this world? Irisviell, Rider, Lancer, Waver… even if they were not dead, they were out of reach now. Besides that, he had summoned her. That made him the master in this relationship, and she did not have the power to resist him to the degree of gaining her freedom. She would _need_ him. She shuddered at the very thought.

She could not supply her own mana. That was his part of the deal. Therefore, she couldn't kill him.

"I will not submit to thee." She said defiantly, raising her gaze to his once more as she spoke dryly, obstinate. "I will, however, become your servant, Gilgamesh. If only for the Grail." Arturia still sought to erase the past. Of course.

He looked so triumphant when she said it. His chin tilted upward and he stepped forward again, shoes leaving prints in the dust that had settled on the floors. He held out his hand, admiring the red symbol on the back. It was a strange version of a cross wrapped in what looked like ribbons of red. She took his hand, spoke the words, and their contract was done.

Arturia Pendragon was _his._


End file.
